Hair cutter



June 21, 1955 yA. N. sPNEL HAIR CUTTER Filed April 8. 195s I I 58 56 INVENTOR.

BRAHAM N4 THA N/EL. .SPA/VEL.

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United States Patent O HAIR CUTTER Abraham Nathaniel Spnel, Princeton, N. J.

Application April 8, 1953, Serial No. 347,458

3 Claims. (Cl. 30--31) My invention relates to hair cutters and more particularly to hair cutters provided with means for moving the cutting blade from any hair cutting position to one which will permit close shaving of the skin with complete safety.

In my copending application Serial No. 106,398, filed July 23, 1949, I disclose a safety type hair cutter provided with an encircling cage beyond which the blade cannot be projected. In another of my copending applications, Serial No. 344,157, tiled March 23, 1953, l disclose an open type of hair cutter which permits the blade edge to be advanced beyond the cage or teeth providing certain advantages in-close shavings. These advantages are made possible by a movable guard which travels with the blade and protects the user in all positions of the blade.

The present invention has for one of its objects the provision of a guard which is mounted to the hair cutter, so as to provide all the advantages of the safety type cage, but which will permit the blade edge to be projected under control through an opening to enable the entire edge to reach the skin for full shaving, without danger of injury.

Other objects are to provide a hair cutter of the afore said characteristics, the open cage of which may be made entirely of stamped sheet metal; to provide a hair cutter with a novel, swiveling handle to permit the hair to be conveniently trimmed on portions of the scalp where the handle is normally inconveniently positioned; and to provide a certain type of stop for the movement of the blade in the extreme positions to insure safety at all times.

These and other objects are accomplished and my new results obtained as will be apparent from the devices described in the following specification, particularly pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan View of my hair cutter partly in section;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the driving mechanism positioned between the comb body and the handle;

Fig. 4 is an end View of the hair cutter;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken in the plane 5 5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a similar view taken in the plane 6 6 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a partial sectional view of a modification.

The hair cutter 10 comprises the handle 12, the cage 14 provided with guideways 16 and 18, the blade holder plate 20, the clamping plate 22, the rack 24 positioned at one end of the blade holder plate, and engaging the pinion wheel 26 mounted on shaft 28 positioned between the upper and the lower sheet metal frames 30 and 32 forming the blade positioning means. The spring 31 engages a ridged surface 33 on the underside of the pinion wheel to prevent undesired movement thereof.

The wheel extends beyond the frame through openi- 'ice ings 34 and 36 to permit manual manipulation, as shown in Fig. l.

As shown in cross-section in Fig. 3, between the handle 12 and frame members may be positioned a swivel 38 which comprises the pin 40 ixedly secured to the handle and provide'd with a ange 42 upon which a spring 44 is positioned which engages the plate 46 secured to the cup 48 into which the pin, flange and spring are positioned. Lips 50 of the cup are peened over the plate 46 to secure the two together. The cup in turn is iixed to the frame at seam 5l. Teeth 52 extend from the plate and engage notches 54 in the handle. When the handle is rotated, the spring is compressed to permit rotation of the notches over the teeth to relocate the handle in the selected position, as determined by the notches.

The blade holder plate 20 is provided with two downwardly extending pins 56 at one end in the guideway 18, which travel in slots 58 extending transversely in the lower frame 32, as shown in Fig. 6. The outward movement of the holder is limited transversely by the pins abutting the ends of the slots. The edge 60 of blade 62. may thus be positioned accurately with respect to the cage 14 to provide the most advantageous position for shaving with safety.

As appears from Figs. l, 2 and 4, the cage or comb body may be made entirely of stamped sheet metal to form a supporting surface 63 as defined by the individual teeth 64. From the connecting frame portion 68 the guard teeth 70 extend terminating in a supporting portion 72 extending preferably in the plane of the supporting teeth 64, which may be inwardly curled at their ends.

The lower portion of the stamped frame comprises the spine 74 which is grooved as at 76 to give it greater rigidity and from which the rear portions 78 of the teeth extend in the form of an oset, providing passageways 80 for the passage of the hair, as shown in Fig. 4.

The blade 62 is supported on the plate 20 from which a pair of upset hooks 82 project and which are engaged through key slots 84 in the clamping plate 22 when manipulated by the finger piece 86.

The supporting teeth and guard teeth define the plane of use, and the blade edge may be projected between the ends of both sets of teeth to the plane of use. This is the safety position, as discovered by me when a cage and/or guard are employed with spaced-apart teeth. In a spacing of say ls of an inch, the skin under pressure of the teeth is forced between the teeth raising the level of the skin which is to be shaved. The position of the blade edge must take this increased height of the skin into consideration. The blade edge normally must press into the skin slightly to reach a shaving position, and the increased height of the skin between the teeth does not require the blade edge to project beyond the teeth, as would normally be required. Thus my present design is safer and less likely to cause injury to the careless user than could be expected. The change in spacing of the teeth should of course result in a change in the outward position of the blade edge, to compensate for the change.

While the embodiment illustrates a cage and guard all made of a single stamping, the teeth of both cage and guard may be made of wire, plastic or other suitable material or combinations thereof. In Fig. 7 l have illustrated a plastic form of comb wherein the frame is provided with extending spaced-apart teeth 91, one edge of which, 92, defines the plane of use, the other edge 93 being parallel to the plane of the blade 94, which is movable by blade positioning means 95 to the plane of use A-A. The guard teeth 96 are supported by frame 97 which is mounted to the frame 90 to provide a lixed guard.

It appears that the ideal position for safety while shaving is obtained when the blade edge is positioned in the plane of use as determined by the teeth of the` guard and teeth of the comb and cage.

If the guard teeth are positioned back of the blade edge in its shaving position, a lesser degree of safety is obtained. The guard teeth should not, for my present purposes, be positioned back of a line drawn normal to the blade, from the ends of the comb teeth.

The swivel permits the handle to be moved out of the axis of the hair cutter frame to facilitate hair cutting in certain positions, and the axis of the swivel being inclined to the frame axis, permits the handle to be moved from the longitudinally extending position illustrated in Figs. l and 2, to one at right angles to the plane of the blade, thus affording a wide range of handle positions.

l have thus described my invention, but I desire it understood that it is not confined to the particular forms or uses shown and described, the same being merely illustrative, and that the invention may 'oe carried out in other ways without departing from the spirit of my invention, and, therefore, I claim broadly the right to employ all equivalent instrumentalities coming within the scope of the appended claims, and by means of which objects of my invention are attained and new results accomplished, as it is obvious that the particular embodiments herein shown and described are only some of the many that can be employed to attain these objects and accomplish these results.

I claim:

1. A hair cutter comprising a blade-position-xing means adapted to position a cutting blade with an edge in a selected cutting zone extending therefrom, and a comb connected to said position fixing means, said comb including a frame from which a plurality of spacedapart teeth project over a side of a positioned blade, the comb and blade-position-xing means being relatively adjustable to effect relative transverse movement between a positioned blade and the teeth, means for retaining the comb and positioned blade in any one of a plurality of selected transverse positions, and a guard mounted on said comb from which a plurality of spaced-apart teeth project, the outermost skin-contacting portions of which lie between the plane of use determined by the teeth of the comb and the edge of the positioned blade and a line drawn normal to the blade from the ends of the comb teeth.

2. The hair cutter of claim 1, wherein the outermost portions of the teeth of the guard are bent towards the teeth of the comb.

3. The hair cutter of claim 1, wherein the guard teeth are spaced apart a distance sufficient to permit the skin to be pressed into the space between said teeth to reach the cutting edge of the positioned blade.

References Cited in the lc of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 973,734 Young Oct. 25, 1910 1,052,039 Conklin Feb. 4, 1913 1,455,725 Hartman May 15, 1923 1,469,715 Breakey et al. Oct. 2, 1923 1,605,396 Egberts Nov. 2, 1926 1,789,234 Keenan Jan. 13, 1931 2,022,598 Hood Nov. 26, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS 63,399 Switzerland Feb. 21, 1913 

